Business Article

Important Manufacturing Metrics That Help in Increasing Efficiency

We may say a thousand things about business, but ultimately, business is a sheer number game. Essentially, everything in a business is decided by profit and loss numbers. Revenue generated, orders fulfilled and other such data have great importance in business. Some key performance indicators become the guiding metrics for a business. Correct assessment of those metrics is very important for running a business successfully.

Manufacturing is one of the most crucial parts of a business. However, it is also a part riddled with the biggest challenges. Achieving Manufacturing Efficiency is the toughest part of this. It involves too many players and gets easily affected. Manufacturing Processes are generally complex and heavily rely on other processes too. Unplanned downtime or inefficiency even in one process will bring down the performance of the complete unit. Therefore, one Manufacturing Metric cannot cover it all. From Manufacturing Downtime Tracking to monitoring OEE, everything is important.

Improving these Manufacturing Metrics can increase the profitability of the complete process. However, too many metrics can take away the focus from the main concept. So, for the ease of understanding, we will be discussing only the most important metrics here.

Key Metrics for Measuring Manufacturing Efficiency

Efficiency

Manufacturing Cycle Time
This is the base metric for most of the calculations in a manufacturing unit. It measures the ideal manufacturing time of any product from the beginning to the end. If you are able to reduce this time then your plant will outperform. If you maintain it then you will remain consistent, but if this time increases your process will become inefficient.

Throughput
This Manufacturing Metric tells the average production capacity of any machine or process. It is important to note that it is an average and not the peak ability. Hence, if the throughput of any plant or machinery goes down all of s sudden then it can mean some serious problems. It is easy to measure and assess. You can never ignore this metric.

Capacity Utilization
We always want to perform our best but when working in a team that’s not possible all the time. Some Manufacturing Processes outshine whereas others underperform. Capacity utilization is the metric to measure the percentage difference between the potential output capacity and current output capacity of the complete process. This important metrics brings out the inefficiency in the process.

Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE)
This is a globally recognized gold standard Manufacturing Metric for assessing quality, speed, and availability. The higher the percentage of OEE in your plant, the more efficient your process will be. A better OEE score will make your Manufacturing Process more reliable and profitable.

Quality

Yield
Rework has always been one of the biggest enemies of profit, time and reliability. Yet, every process produces some defective goods that require reworking. Yield measures the percentage of products produced correctly as per the specifications in the very first attempt.

Customer Rejects
This is a measure of the failure of your process in manufacturing standard products and it comes directly from the customers. The higher the number of customer rejects, the greater your loss of profit and credibility in the market will be.

Downtime
Percentage Planned vs emergency maintenance work orders
Maintenance is a critical activity in any Manufacturing Process. Machines that work will face damage and routine wear and tear. Planned maintenance helps in keeping them in shape and getting great efficiency and reliability. However, in spite of the best efforts machines can still break down all of a sudden and cause panic and chaos. But, such incidents shouldn’t be a regular scenario as then the maintenance costs can escalate multiple times. One of the most important maintenance matrics is the ratio between the planned and unplanned maintenance. The higher the difference the better your profits will be. Measuring Manufacturing Downtime and Equipment Tracking can help you in lowering such instances.

Availability Ratio
It is a simple metric showing the availability of assets. It is calculated by deducting the downtime from planned production time of any process or machinery. You will get the actual availability. It is important for assessing the potential of your plant as well as finding ways for increasing efficiency.

These Manufacturing Metrics help you in finding the key areas to work on in your plant. If you look closely you can find the missing pieces of the puzzle through these metrics which will help you in reaping higher profits.